Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations RES & BG spawning at the same time...same place?

I'm fairly new to RES, but I thought they and BG spawned at different times and different depths? However, I'm seeing lots of male RES and have caught a few females just loaded with eggs. At the same time, and within 5 feet, I'm also catching BG, male and females, bloated with eggs and ready to go.

Been fishing in evenings for big CC using small BG for bait and keep catching the darn RES's so they go back.

BTW...amazing how the RES resemble male crappie, when spawning. VERY dark, as opposed to the females. Nice to see they are actually spawning like they're supposed to. Also, when was the last time you fished for BG and said to yourself "dang it, wish I'd quit catching nice RES and huge BG." Caught myself doing that and had to laugh. Was trying for the perfect bait gill...female, 3-4" lon g. Took me forever to get past the hogs down to the lil ones.

The book says that Redears spawn deeper and perhaps at a different time than BG. But not every Redear has read the book, like ewest\'s and mine, which are spawning at the same time as BG and (for at least some of the RES) shallower than the BG.

Thanks for confirming what I'm seeing, Theo. My RES are closer to the bank than the BG...not necesarily much shallower (24" for RES vs maybe 30" for BG). Just not really what I expected, but this is the first year, I think, that the RES are big enough to spawn...and they're doing a bang up job of it. Always nice to see a plan come together. Was gonna rake some FA out of the area, but guess I'll have to wait til after they're done doing what they wanna do. :p